


Waking Up and Smelling the Coffee

by shuilian



Category: Leverage
Genre: Eliot is soft, Hardison just really loves them ok, Hardison's palate is criminal, Minor Misunderstandings, Multi, OT3, POV Alec Hardison, Parker stealing and wearing other people's clothes, Post-Season/Series 04, not coming out - they want to do things on their own terms, sensory issues, sex-related injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23160943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuilian/pseuds/shuilian
Summary: Nate and Sophie come over too early and Sophie tries to work out what's going on.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Comments: 16
Kudos: 225





	Waking Up and Smelling the Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> I debated whether this should be rated T or M.

Hardison sits down in the unoccupied chair, blinking his eyes. He'd barely managed to pull on some sweatpants and the t-shirt he'd worn yesterday after they'd been so unceremoniously woken up by Nate and Sophie. He doesn't know what to do with his hands when he doesn't have his laptop to hide behind, and ends up settling for making a show of stretching. Quickly, he reconsiders that when he discovers his arms and legs are sore like he’d been to the gym yesterday.

Hardison can smell coffee brewing - Eliot had put it on after determining there was no immediate emergency and disappeared into the bathroom more than five minutes ago. Hardison hopes that Eliot's not in there blow-drying his hair, but Eliot really hates having wet hair, so anything is possible.

It's only fair that Eliot should take a shower after last night. Hardison doesn't think Sophie is _actually_ psychic, but she has a tendency to just know things she has no business knowing. Hardison's pretty sure that nothing on his face is giving anything away though when a tousle-haired Parker sits down on the right side of the couch with a massive bowl of cereal. 

Hardison takes in her lithe form. Luckily for Nate and Sophie, she doesn't like the texture of upholstery against her bare skin, so she’s dressed. She's wearing black yoga pants, pink fuzzy bunny slippers, and a loose blue t-shirt - Eliot's shirt. Hardison's eyes widen for a second before he remembers to be cool. It’s just that Eliot wears very distinctive shirts. Eliot’s shirt on Parker is...well. Hardison swallows and abruptly looks down.

Without looking directly at her, Hardison can tell Sophie's eyes are on Parker now. Specifically, she seems to be looking at the collar of the shirt that Parker's wearing. He wishes that Nate and Sophie had called before coming over, or at least knocked. Had he ever seen either of them pick a lock? Maybe they should change them, or get a security system and then claim it malfunctioned when Nate couldn’t just barge in. Or a robot...a robot might work...

Nate starts to tell them about the problem that's come up with the new job, and Hardison forces his attention back to his right.

"Hey, hold up. Wait for Eliot," Hardison says.

Nate frowns, turning to Sophie with a look that Hardison can't read. 

Before Nate says anything, though, Eliot comes in from the hallway and crosses to the kitchen, where he gets a couple of cups - one regular, one larger. He decants coffee into them and adds five teaspoons of sugar to the large mug. As he crosses the room, Hardison sees that while Eliot's put on clean jeans and a red long-sleeved henley, his hair is still wet. He must be pissed about that, but he looks zen-like as he precisely stills the motion of his arm to gently hand over the large mug of coffee to Hardison on his way to the couch.

Hardison takes a sip of the hot, sweet coffee, glancing up to see Sophie staring at him. What, did she notice that Eliot didn't thrust the cup at him roughly with a snarky comment? The memory of how precisely Eliot can control how he moves brings heat to Hardison’s face. He needs more coffee for this. He takes several sips, all at once, nearly burning himself.

Nate is staring at Eliot, who's sprawled on the left side of the couch. Hardison feels like he did leg day twice and has to keep readjusting his position in the chair, but Eliot’s acting like his legs aren’t even sore. Hardison knows this casual-seeming, unruffled Eliot but hasn't seen him outside a job in a long, long time.

"No coffee for me?" Nate asks, his hands wide in annoyance.

"You know where it is," Eliot says evenly. "If you want whisky, you'll have to go downstairs for it."

Hardison smirks a little. Sure, it's eight am, but you never knew with Nate.

"No coffee for Parker?" Sophie asks, turning to Eliot. Parker frowns at that.

"Parker doesn't like coffee," Eliot says, so calmly that Hardison thinks they're definitely going to get away with it.

"Is that true?" Sophie asks Hardison with a raised eyebrow. 

Hardison knows what Sophie's doing - trying to needle him into revealing something about their relationship. It’s not going to work. She probably wouldn’t understand their relationship anyway, for all her goodwill. The last thing any of them needs right now is another dose of judgment from someone they trusted, and it’s just too early in the morning to find out if Nate and Sophie are going to judge them.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Parker says, irritated. "Wait, am I invisible? You can see me, right? I'm not invisible?"

Nate takes advantage of this exchange to exit into the kitchen, where cupboards start opening and things clank together.

"Of course I can see you," Sophie says soothingly. Parker smiles but still looks a little puzzled.

Sophie's eyes move from Parker's shirt to Eliot then. Hardison downs the rest of his coffee despite how hot it still is and sets the mug down with a thunk, drawing Sophie’s attention. Parker's frowning now, looking at the empty spot on the couch between her and Eliot.

Before she can say anything, Hardison gets up quickly and moves past Eliot, who straightens up in response. Hardison sits down in the empty space between Eliot and Parker, careful not to jostle the couch while Parker still has the cereal bowl in her hands.

"Sorry, baby," Hardison says reassuringly. Parker beams at him.

Hardison is almost afraid to look in Sophie's direction now, but he can feel her eyes on him. Scratch that; they are definitely not getting away with it. He feels a lot better like this, though, with the three of them on the couch together.

Nate returns with a mug of coffee and Hardison realizes that somehow only a minute or two has passed.

"What'd I miss?" Nate asks, and Hardison looks away quickly. He's pretty sure Nate's just making a joke, but to his right, Eliot's arm has frozen in the act of bringing the coffee mug to his mouth. On the other side, though, he can hear the sounds of crunching.

"Wow, tough crowd," Nate says, after no one reacts.

Eliot sets his mug down on the coffee table and throws his arm across the back of the couch. Hardison steals a glance at Sophie and sees that little smile on her face, the one she uses when she doesn't want to give anything away. It's a giveaway in and of itself.

Then Nate starts talking again and everyone's eyes swing back to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Parker is a demi gray ace in this one.
> 
> Sorry about the cheesy title - I can never resist a double or triple meaning.


End file.
